ThinkFast: April 17, 2006
ThinkFast: April 17, 2006
Senate Cover-Up Committee Chairman Pat Roberts says his intelligence panel has “not made…progress on our oversight of Iran intelligence, which is critical.” The panel has done only piecemeal scrutiny of the spy agencies’ work on Iran. “There is no organized committee staff effort to look at Iran right now,” says majority staff director Bill Duhnke. “It’s all sort of on hold.”
48: The number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq for the first half of April, a sharp increase from the 30 casualties last month.
As seven retired generals call for Rumsfeld’s resignation, the Secretary’s “firm grip on the Defense Department is slipping.” Officers are increasingly questioning Rumsfeld’s judgment, “publicly questioning or quietly trying to undo some of [his] initiatives.”
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has canceled a U.S. visit to avoid being photographed with President Bush, claims The Huffington Post. Blair decided the photo op would be “too toxic for his image.”
The federal income tax has become less progressive over the course of the Bush presidency. The Los Angeles Times asks, “Has leveling out federal income tax rates produced a cornucopia of financial benefits? The answer is probably yes — if you’re a millionaire. And probably no — if you’re almost anyone else.â€
Congress leans on CPAs. When it comes to their own tax returns, many members of Congress – including three of the top four lawmakers on the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees — who specialize in writing tax laws turn to professional preparers rather than completing the paperwork themselves.
Conservatives in Congress are resorting to gimmickry to try to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. “A Senate rule designed to make it harder to increase the deficit would be circumvented with a maneuver that would end up increasing the deficit. And a tax cut for wealthier Americans that would cost $50 billion over 10 years would be ‘paid for’ in part by another tax cut for the well-off, which would end up costing billions more.â€
Bush orders national parks to “to show that they can function at 80 percent or less of their operating budgets.†“But park officials in the field said the initiative was forcing ‘gut-wrenching’ decisions that visitors will notice.â€
A revolt over “emergency†spending: “Senate appropriators have inserted language into the fiscal 2006 supplemental spending bill chastising the Bush administration for using the now twice-yearly ‘emergency war’ supplementals as a shadow appropriations and policy process.â€
And finally, Time Magazine lists the ten best and five worst U.S. Senators. Among the worst: Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) (who “is so bland that his critics have dubbed him ‘Dullard.’â€), Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN) (for his “erratic behaviorâ€), and Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) (who “shows little interest in policy unless it involves baseball.â€)
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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“The federal income tax has flatted”
If only I knew what “flatted” means.
April 17th, 2006 at 9:07 amThe Republican party, which used to be known for fiscal conservatism, has become the party of “borrow and spend” with no fiscal responsibility in any way, shape or form.
The Republicans are now known as fiscally irresponsible, morally corrupt, ethically bankrupt, and want to destroy the Constitution which is the foundation of our country.
This coming mid-term elections will prove that the American people are sick and tired of being consistently lied to by the Republicans, and they will have a much smaller presence in both the House and Senate.
April 17th, 2006 at 9:14 amThe so-called “conservatives” will use ANY gimmick to increase the deficit and debt becasue they just don’t care if America goes bankrupt. By that time, they’ll be dead and they obviously don’t care. They will bend over backwards in order to appease the richest of the rich so they’ll continue getting donations from these people.
When it comes to standards, the “conservatives” only have one simple standard: anything for money. The more money you give them, the more they will fight for your special interests. That’s why the average American citizen will always lose out to special corporate interests and any other special interest that coughs up the dough.
Conservative Republicans: the best politicians money can buy!
April 17th, 2006 at 9:20 amBritish Prime Minister Tony Blair has canceled an upcoming U.S. visit to avoid being photographed with President Bush, claims The Huffington Post. Blair decided the photo op would be “too toxic for his image.â€
Blair is apparently taking his low approval rating seriously. Obviously he cares at least a smidge.
April 17th, 2006 at 9:22 amPoor George W. Bush–the only leaders that will be photographed with him are dictators like Pervez Mausharraff of Pakistan, the Communist dictators of China and the absolute monarchs of Saudi Arabia.
No wonder Bush is starting to think like a dictator–you are the company you keep.
-GSD
April 17th, 2006 at 9:29 amSay WHAT? TWICE!
Somebody, please explain this:
“There is no organized committee staff effort to look at Iran right now,†says majority staff director Bill Duhnke. “It’s all sort of on hold.â€
On hold??? Aren’t we threatening to invade? Shouldn’t that be a priority Lemmie guess–they don’t want to find out that what they’re peddling is WRONG.
And this?
Bush orders national parks to “to show that they can function at 80 percent or less of their operating budgets.â€
Why? Why does he order such a thing? Is 80% just a random number? I’m guessing that 20% he’s cutting will be the trash collectors and game hunter enforcement…
April 17th, 2006 at 9:31 amSomething my father told me he saw on Carte Blanch last night:
Do you yanks really let corporations into your schools to teach your kids how to whine, nag and guilt trip you more effectively into spending your money? I mean, if anybody is a teacher here I would like to have some confirmation on this because it seems just a wee bit odd for America’s parents to accept their efforts to bring up their children being sabotaged like this…
April 17th, 2006 at 9:39 amThe Return of the Gender Gap in 2006
by Jonathan Singer, Sun Apr 16, 2006 at 11:47:21 AM EST
In one of my posts yesterday, I noted the whopping 30-point gender gap that the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg found on the generic congressional ballot question, with women overwhelmingly preferring to see a Democratic Congress by a 58 percent to 30 margin while men narrowly prefer a GOP Congress by a 41 percent to 39 percent margin.
That LA Times/Bloomberg poll was not the only poll to come out this past week showing a sizeable gender gap. The Cook Political Report (.pdf) commissioned a poll this week from RT Strategies that showed the Democrats holding a 10-point generic congressional ballot lead, 46 percent to 36 percent. The gender breakdown of the Cook poll shows an 11-point gender gap, with women favoring the Democrats by 15 points while men favor the Dems by only 4.
Whether women support the Democrats by a 28 percent margin or a 15 percent margin, it seems fairly clear that women’s strong preference for the Democratic Party — which had shrunk from 12 points during the 2000 presidential election to just 3 points during the 2004 presidential contest — has returned.
http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/4/16/114721/301
April 17th, 2006 at 9:43 am-6
By way of explaination, they will be holding hearings AFTER we invade Iraq. It saves money on Intel.
Goper’s Lament (Hard To Be A Republican)
April 17th, 2006 at 9:47 amPunchy, I’m sure Robert’s dropping the ball on Iran is just an ‘oversight’, no doubt he’ll jump right on that in much the same way he’s hammered away at the investigation of the administrations manipulation of pre-war intelligence
April 17th, 2006 at 9:47 amNew York Leads Politeness Trend? Get Outta Here!
New Yorkers are known to throw things onto the field at Yankee Stadium when the Red Sox are in town. At times they boo their own mayor at parades. Some refuse to surrender their seats to pregnant women on the subway, while others cut in line and never apologize.
But somehow a city whose residents have long been scorned for their churlish behavior is now being praised for adopting rules and laws that govern personal conduct, making New York an unlikely model for legislating courtesy and decorum.
From tighter restrictions on sports fans and car alarms to a new $50 fine on subway riders who rest their feet on a seat, New York’s efforts to curb everyday annoyances and foster more civility among its residents have increasingly been studied and debated far from home.
Link
April 17th, 2006 at 9:48 amGingrich warns Republicans Americans want change
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican Party is in serious danger of losing political ground in November elections if it does not enact reforms that eliminate waste and hold the federal bureaucracy to higher standards, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Sunday.
“I think they’re in very serious danger of having a very bad election this fall,” Gingrich said on Fox News Sunday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060416/pl_nm/gingrich_dc_1
April 17th, 2006 at 9:49 amDo you yanks really let corporations into your schools to teach your kids how to whine, nag and guilt trip you more effectively into spending your money?
Comment by Bruce Gorton — April 17, 2006 @ 9:39 am
The kids show up having learned to whine, nag and manipulate. It’s their parents who teach them. I’ve asked. When a few started whining about an assignment I’d just made, i asked “Does this work at home?” Almost in unison they said “Oh yes!”
We don’t allow corporations into the classroom to teach them whining, nagging or guilt-tripping. I don’t know where that came from. It doesn’t make sense to me because we don’t like when they do it. No way we’d assist them in being even better at it.
April 17th, 2006 at 9:54 amBruce, here’s some insight:
For once, blame the student
By Patrick Welsh
Failure in the classroom is often tied to lack offunding, poor teachersor other ills. Here’s athought: Maybe it’s thefailed work ethic of todays kids. That’s what I’m seeing in my school. Until reformers see thisreality, little will change.
Last month, as I averaged the second-quarter grades for my senior English classes at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., the same familiar pattern leapt out at me.
Kids who had emigrated from foreign countries — such as Shewit Giovanni from Ethiopia, Farah Ali from Guyana and Edgar Awumey from Ghana — often aced every test, while many of their U.S.-born classmates from upper-class homes with highly educated parents had a string of C’s and D’s.
As one would expect, the middle-class American kids usually had higher SAT verbal scores than did their immigrant classmates, many of whom had only been speaking English for a few years.
What many of the American kids I taught did not have was the motivation, self-discipline or work ethic of the foreign-born kids.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-03-07-forum-students_x.htm
April 17th, 2006 at 9:56 amPresident Roosevelt helped build the National Park system so the average American could enjoy America’s natural beauty.
The current Administration’s disdain for Middle Class America has never been hidden. Enjoy the jewels of America’s National Parks while you can. They may be reduced to littered parking lots offering nothing but congestion and a sad reminder.
April 17th, 2006 at 9:58 amWe have nothing to fear as long as Donald Rumsfeld is running the show at the Pentagon. He knows all and he has been kissing up to both sides for years.
April 17th, 2006 at 10:00 amUnbelievable
Nah, I thought it sounded just a touch weird, which is why I wanted some confirmation on it.
April 17th, 2006 at 10:04 am“There is no organized committee staff effort to look at Iran right now,†says majority staff director Bill Duhnke. “It’s all sort of on hold.â€
And this is from the director of the intelligence committee? Said with a straight face?
Oh wait — let’s see, they are more than a year behind in providing phase two of the intel report leading up to Iraq, and it will be at least January before that is complete (if ever).
April 17th, 2006 at 10:10 amI see! This must be the Democrats’ fault – of course! If they weren’t so persnickety about details involving the run up to the war in Iraq, Roberts would be able to focus on not working on the Iran intel. All this important business takes time.
After we bomb Iran, and have begun WWIII, there will be ample time to procrastinate on completing the intel report.
Bruce,
The majority of parents here do a good enough job on their own teaching their kids to whine and strive for mediocrity. We’ve dropped from the #1 most educated country in the world to 7th place. Canada is currently in first place.
April 17th, 2006 at 10:10 amUnbelievable
I think I was lucky, I threw one tantrum when growing up and, due to me having had 3 brothers grow up before me, my mother knew precisely what to do. She gave me a klap, and told me to shush, it didn’t work but later she told me I was screaming anyway so it made her feel better. Later I learned the best means of getting what I wanted was just to be nice.
Maybe that is what we need more of in government in general, people who grew up learning that nice works one helluva lot better then nasty.
April 17th, 2006 at 10:27 am#20 – Bruce wrote: “nice works one helluva lot better then nasty”
Obviously, the Republicans never heard this advice. Neither have (most of) the trolls that visit this site.
April 17th, 2006 at 10:39 amBaghdad to be liberated, again, this summer
April 17th, 2006 at 10:47 am
How about the picture of Dr. Rice with the President of Equitorial Guinea, during her visit with him last week. Apparently, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema is quite the despot. He took power by coup in 1979 and is regularaly condemned by the State Dept. for human rights violations including,torture, beatings, abuse and death of prisoners and suspects. (Washington Post Federal page A-11, in the Loop by AL Kamen. Monday April 17, 2006.) Doesn’t mention the reason for her visit. Not pretty. But they are, smiling away, shaking hands in the photo.
April 17th, 2006 at 10:54 am#18
Marie, what do you expect from an administration that would tolerate this ( with a “straight face” I might add ):
( From the House Armed Services Committee – Feb. 17, 2005 )
“When the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Ike Skelton ( Mo. ), asked about the number of insurgents in Iraq, the secretary said, ” I am not going to give you a number for it because it it’s not my business to do intelligent work.” ( He presumably meant to say “intelligence.” ) Ultimately, Rumsfeld admitted he had estimates at his fingertips. “I’ve got two in front of me,” he said.
“Could you share those with us?” Skelton inquires.
Not just now, Rumsfeld said. “They’re classified.”
From “Secretary On the Offensive” – Dana Milbank – Washington Post 2/17/2005
His estimates were almost certainly wrong. And they probably still are.
Nine months after this hearing – this idiot is syaing Iraq has no insurgency.
( HeraldNet, 11/30/2005 )
I do not have the figures in front of me – but I think there are roughly 4.4 non-Kurdish Sunni’s in Iraq.
Assume about half are men. (2.2 mln )
Assume one third are too old for combat and one third are too young. This leaves about 700,000.
If just 10% ( just one in ten ) from this group has any combination of nationalistic or religous or pro-Saddam leanings that make them unfriendly to the U.S. presence – then you have at least 70,000 insurgents.
Of the 150,000 or so troops in Iraq – about 25,000 to 50,000 are support troops. So you have just over 100,000 combat vs. ( in all likelihood ) at least 75,000 insurgents.
It is not a good idea to fight an insurgency “one to one.”
This indicates to me that General Shinseki did not “just pull out of the air” the recommendation of 300,000 to 400,000 troops.
If they are there at the onset – this would have worked to “smother” the environment – making it harder for insurgents to organize and operate. Insurgents need stealth and secrecy. An extra 200,000 to 300,000 pair of boots on the ground and eye balls would’ve made it a lot harder for them to organize and operate in stealth and secrecy – particularly at the start.
But as of late November of 2005 – you have a man who still did not even recognize the insurgency.
And the GOP rewards him by saying he is doing a “good job.”
Pat Roberts puts the responsibilities of being a “good GOP Party man” ahead of the responsibilities to the troops ( by seriously poking and probing and challenging all of these Iran assumptions to make sure that both the intelligence and the battle plans are sound and not reckless).
Good soldiers are killed and harmed unnecessarily when battle plans are reckless (i.e., “political” ).
April 17th, 2006 at 11:24 amTo much to respond to, will pick just one. Our parks, wilderness and roadless areas have been under attack since Bush installed Pombo. They not only want to cut their budgets drasticly they are fighting to sell them all off…That’s right folks, SELL THEM OFF TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER. Lease and drill all they don’t sell. Cut it , drill it and kill it is this administrations goal, across the board. Think that is their general plan here and around the world……Been working on this and all the other important issues since this bunch got into office…Would like to start winning……..Blessings
April 17th, 2006 at 11:31 am#25 – This issue, if nothing else, Sharon, will get the people of Idaho to pay attention. They don’t to give a flying crap if anyone drills on it or mines it, but try to sell off the land where they 4-wheel and hunt and there’s going to be a problem. I look forward to a lively governor’s race this year. We’ll probably end up with Butch Otter (Kempthorne-lite idiot), but he’ll have to work for it. *sigh*
April 17th, 2006 at 11:54 amHas anyone calculated how much the VP would have had refunded if the tax cuts had not occurred? Since the VP got a 1.9 million dollar refund now, based on the same data, what would he have gotten back in 2000? In other words how much has the VP profitted from tax cuts?
April 17th, 2006 at 12:05 pmWhy were they elected by the public? Our fellow citizens can really be depressing sometimes.
Are tax system has become less about funding public services, maintaining infrastructure, and enforcement, but rather used as a tool for politicians to reward with their contributors.
Addition:
Verses
April 17th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Freedom is on the march! Rule of law!
Or not: Afghanistan’s drug kingpins above the law (S.F. Chronicle, April 17, 2006)
An excerpt:
April 17th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
I would guess that this information explains the increase in American soldier fatalities:
Despite repeated assurances to the contrary, the recent redeployment of U.S. troops to secure the dangerous streets of Baghdad raises some serious questions about the progress in Iraq. We are regularly told that the Iraqi military and security forces are increasing in numbers and preparedness to deal with the general security of the country as well as the growing sectarian violence. The Associated Press report today raises doubts as to the actual progress being made.
Unfortunately, I interpret this to mean two things…one, Iraq is increasingly closer to full-fledged civil war…and two, Iraqi military and security forces are not standing up to the growing conflict so that American troop presence in the country can soon be reduced. It’s hard to accept the “good news†when the majority of the news seems to paint a much gloomier picture. Polls seem to demonstrate that the American public sees the same thing.
read more observations here:
http://www.thoughttheater.com
April 17th, 2006 at 3:15 pmThe cost of illegal immigration and amnesty.
April 17th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
When all-out civil war blossoms in Iraq…only then will the AMERICAN PUBLIC develop the POLITICAL WILL to BRING HOME THE TROOPS.
April 17th, 2006 at 4:31 pmIsn’t California’s energy crisis really due to the large increase in its illegal population during a decade when no new power plants were built?
Comment by Jack — April 17, 2006 @ 4:31 pm
No, there was never such crisis, or -more appropriately- it was an artificial crisis caused by Enron’s manipulation of the California energy supply. This is well documented, and has ben known for at least two years now, as Enron’s traders were caught on tape discussing how to drive up electricity prices for California consumers:
The tapes, from Enron’s West Coast trading desk, also confirm what CBS reported years ago: that in secret deals with power producers, traders deliberately drove up prices by ordering power plants shut down.
Enron Traders Caught On Tape
Illegal immigrants had nothing to do with California’s energy crisis.
April 17th, 2006 at 6:14 pmJust a Thought: If Rumsfeld is being criticized by retired generals, who by definition are no longer at the Pentagon, it’s hard to understand what their criticism has to do with the SecDef’s “grip” on matters there.
April 17th, 2006 at 7:18 pm[...] Think Progress [...]
April 17th, 2006 at 7:47 pmAddition:
April 18th, 2006 at 1:59 am